Those who coordinate an ongoing meal ministry with multiple meal schedules often have unique needs compared to those coordinators who create a one-time meal schedule on TakeThemAMeal.com. We would like to share a few simple tips that will help you manage multiple meal schedules.

We understand most of you are balancing many tasks and commitments and family obligations --- life is often hectic! We want these tips to make you even more efficient in managing your meal schedules, so more time and energy can be spent caring for loved ones in your church, community, and beyond.

1. Consider the best coordinator email address

For churches, we often recommend using the church office email address, or if coordinator responsibilities are going to be shared among several people, creating a web-based email account (like mealministry@gmail.com). Our website does not use accounts; instead coordinators are recognized by their email address. When you use the same coordinator email address this allows your previous schedules to be linked together and provides a helpful meals history. This is extremely beneficial when it's time to give a church or committee report or transition to a new meal coordinator.

2. Determine the best administrative password

Numerous coordinators use the same administrative password for each schedule for ease of use and convenience. Make sure to record your password in a secure location. Your password should be secure, unique and memorable to you. These tips help avoid the last minute panic of not remembering the administrative password when you need to access the schedule.

3. What to do if you need two meal coordinators

It is possible to include one name in the coordinator first name field with 'and' and then the second name in the coordinator last name field. This allows both coordinator names to display on the schedule. Only one coordinator email address may be entered when creating the schedule (see first tip). You may include additional contact details within the 'Notes' section of the schedule if needed.

4. When the need arises for multiple meal schedules

Your church family might be growing. Our website makes it simple to manage multiple meal schedules occurring at the same time. Each time you want to create a new meal schedule, you need to fill out the brief, one-page form. There is no limit to the number of meal schedules you may coordinate. You could even coordinate a group meal schedule for a memorial service and another church event on PerfectPotluck.com at the same time.

5. A meal coordinator backup is a wise idea

Life happens, and at some point the meal coordinator is unavailable. To ensure a seamless transition plan ahead and share the schedule details with your designated backup. Anyone on your meal ministry team with access to a shared coordinator email address and your passwords can easily coordinate a schedule when needed. It's a wise idea to organize a mini-training session and share our Help page in advance so others are comfortable and confident in this role.

6. Enter the church name as recipient last name and use the same user password

This schedule set-up option allows church members to easily access all active schedules. To make it simpler for church members to view the schedules, some churches choose to enter the recipient's name in the 'First Name' field and the church's name in the 'Last Name' field when creating a schedule. They also use the same user password for all schedules so any time your church has someone in need of meals, members of your church can easily log in to access any schedule.

7. When it's time to transition to a new meal coordinator

It's often helpful for the outgoing meal coordinator to meet with the new coordinator and share an overview of our website and any schedule details. This helps to ensure a seamless transition and gives the new coordinator an opportunity to ask questions. If you have been using a shared coordinator email address you may easily update the coordinator name within the schedule and share the details with the new coordinator. We can also copy the email contact list within the 'Invite Friends' tool to a new coordinator email address if needed. One final tip --- don't forget to share the new meal coordinator name and contact details with church members for future meal schedule requests.

I recently helped a meal coordinator who has been scheduling meals for her church for over eight years. Do you have any tips or advice or words of wisdom from coordinating meals at your church? We would love to hear from you.

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